Johnny Depp apologizes for Trump joke

LOS ANGELES: Johnny Depp apologized on Friday (Saturday in Manila) for joking about President Donald Trump being assassinated, as his remarks to a music festival audience triggered an angry backlash.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star made the off-color comments late Thursday at the Glastonbury Festival in southwest England, telling the crowd it had “been a while” since an actor had assassinated a president.

The comments drew a stern response from the White House, as Depp said he had intended no malice.

Actor Johnny Depp AFP PHOTO

“President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it’s sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead,” said Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

“I hope that some of Mr. Depp’s colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a Democrat elected official.”

In a statement to celebrity magazine People, the 54-year-old apologized over the incident saying his words “did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice.”

“I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone,” he added.

The A-Lister had turned up at a drive-in cinema at Glastonbury, introducing his 2004 film “The Libertine” and answering questions from the 1,500-strong audience.

“I think he needs help and there are a lot of wonderful dark, dark places he could go,” Depp said when asked about Trump.

“When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? I want to qualify, I am not an actor. I lie for a living.

“However, it has been a while and maybe it is time,” Depp added.

In 1865, Civil War president Abraham Lincoln was shot dead in a Washington theatre by actor John Wilkes Booth.

Depp is the latest of a string of entertainment industry figures to make controversial statements about Trump.

Singer Madonna was reportedly the subject of a Secret Service investigation after saying she wanted to “blow up the White House”.

Comedian Kathy Griffin lost her New Year presenting job at CNN after posing for a picture while holding a mask styled to look like Trump’s bloody severed head.

A production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in New York’s Central Park was recently interrupted by right-wing protesters outraged that it appeared to depict Trump, as Caesar, being knifed to death.

Demonstrators shouted that the play had the “blood of Steve Scalise on its hands,” referring to the recent shooting of the Republican congressman, although its defenders highlighted that a 2012 production featuring Barack Obama as Caesar attracted little controversy.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in a media briefing Friday, described both the play and Depp’s comments as “troubling.”